The long December
Dec. 27th, 2025 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookofdanielvol2December's been a tough month - nothing catastrophic, but lots of annoyances, many revolving around the weather.
A few weeks ago I got home from work on a windy day. It was a Thursday, which is my "Friday" (my "weekend" is Friday and Saturday). I was sitting there minding my own business when I heard a crash outside - it turned out that the wind had torn the chimney cap completely off my house. After a few calls through my heating oil company (the chimney goes to the oil furnace), I was able to get somebody out to fix it. That actually went well - it was originally going to be the following week, but they kept calling back and saying they could come the next day, and then that night, and the repair was only $70.
My plow guy from the last few years is no longer doing snow plowing, so I theoretically got somebody new - theoretically because the first snow storm they never showed, saying when I finally texted that something was wrong with their plow, and then with yesterday's storm saying that they no longer worked my area. So last night I buckled and ordered a snow blower, which will ultimately pay for itself pretty quickly after three or four uses versus paying somebody to do it. Of course, it didn't come in time for last night's storm, so I had a lot of shoveling to do today - fortunately a neighbor let me use their snow blower for the worst of it.
Also, some car--related expenses - first two new wheel bearings, then I kept getting a tire pressure indicator (despite the tire pressure being fine) which of course turned out to be bad sensors, the replacement of which was another $1k. I guess I should expect some of these sorts of repairs to be needed; despite my car being a 2019, it already has nearly 126k miles on it, but it doesn't make the expense any more fun.
That said, the holiday itself was very nice. Small gathering at my mom's. Because we always used to end up with way too much food, the last several years we've just done a mix of various hors d'oeuvres and desserts rather than a formal dinner; this year I made two pizzas to contribute to the spread (one a white pizza with a shallot/garlic/olive oil "sauce," the other plain cheese). We still ended up with way too much stuff, and I defniitely ate way too much of way too many things that I shouldn't, but it's one day a year. Our trinity of Christmas movies (A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation and Home Alone) was also screened (I also watched Story, or had it on in the background, a few times on my own since that's my #1). Amusingly, my mom actually got me the Sound Machine featured in my last post, 35 years after I first asked for it and didn't receive it. I guess she finally figured that, at 42, I'm finally old enough to not be completely obnoxious with it - of course, the downside is that I can no longer use not getting it in 1990 as a (lighthearted) guilt trip anymore. It was a good time - but I do always hate when the holiday ends; despite not being in any way religous, Christmas is probably my single favorite time of year.
Hopefully next month will have fewer petty annoyances, aside from the general national-level existential dread - and the same goes for the rest of 2026.
I'll leave by mentioning my "current music" for this post, which is one of my favorite songs for the holidays. "Aspenglow" is really a winter song, not specifically a Christmas one, and to that end I don’t think they come any better - and its second release *was* on a Christmas album, so I count it. Hearing it just makes me feel like I’m under a warm blanket in front of a fire, glass of good port, sleeping cat or two, nowhere else to be and nothing else to worry about. Someday I aspire to achieve this vision.
A few weeks ago I got home from work on a windy day. It was a Thursday, which is my "Friday" (my "weekend" is Friday and Saturday). I was sitting there minding my own business when I heard a crash outside - it turned out that the wind had torn the chimney cap completely off my house. After a few calls through my heating oil company (the chimney goes to the oil furnace), I was able to get somebody out to fix it. That actually went well - it was originally going to be the following week, but they kept calling back and saying they could come the next day, and then that night, and the repair was only $70.
My plow guy from the last few years is no longer doing snow plowing, so I theoretically got somebody new - theoretically because the first snow storm they never showed, saying when I finally texted that something was wrong with their plow, and then with yesterday's storm saying that they no longer worked my area. So last night I buckled and ordered a snow blower, which will ultimately pay for itself pretty quickly after three or four uses versus paying somebody to do it. Of course, it didn't come in time for last night's storm, so I had a lot of shoveling to do today - fortunately a neighbor let me use their snow blower for the worst of it.
Also, some car--related expenses - first two new wheel bearings, then I kept getting a tire pressure indicator (despite the tire pressure being fine) which of course turned out to be bad sensors, the replacement of which was another $1k. I guess I should expect some of these sorts of repairs to be needed; despite my car being a 2019, it already has nearly 126k miles on it, but it doesn't make the expense any more fun.
That said, the holiday itself was very nice. Small gathering at my mom's. Because we always used to end up with way too much food, the last several years we've just done a mix of various hors d'oeuvres and desserts rather than a formal dinner; this year I made two pizzas to contribute to the spread (one a white pizza with a shallot/garlic/olive oil "sauce," the other plain cheese). We still ended up with way too much stuff, and I defniitely ate way too much of way too many things that I shouldn't, but it's one day a year. Our trinity of Christmas movies (A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation and Home Alone) was also screened (I also watched Story, or had it on in the background, a few times on my own since that's my #1). Amusingly, my mom actually got me the Sound Machine featured in my last post, 35 years after I first asked for it and didn't receive it. I guess she finally figured that, at 42, I'm finally old enough to not be completely obnoxious with it - of course, the downside is that I can no longer use not getting it in 1990 as a (lighthearted) guilt trip anymore. It was a good time - but I do always hate when the holiday ends; despite not being in any way religous, Christmas is probably my single favorite time of year.
Hopefully next month will have fewer petty annoyances, aside from the general national-level existential dread - and the same goes for the rest of 2026.
I'll leave by mentioning my "current music" for this post, which is one of my favorite songs for the holidays. "Aspenglow" is really a winter song, not specifically a Christmas one, and to that end I don’t think they come any better - and its second release *was* on a Christmas album, so I count it. Hearing it just makes me feel like I’m under a warm blanket in front of a fire, glass of good port, sleeping cat or two, nowhere else to be and nothing else to worry about. Someday I aspire to achieve this vision.
